Shashank Lanjekar

Shashank Lanjekar

Chief Strategy Officer at VML
Mumbai , India

About me

A vagabond in my early years, fairly focused later on and now working on becoming more interesting and valuable in consumer communications.

Sourcing automobile components, selling cars, counselling confused students and selling laptops and servers were things I thought I wanted to do.
But it was ideas, conversations, and campaigns that interested me much more once I stumbled upon advertising.

Born and brought up in McCann, high-schooled in Soho Square, Ogilvy & Dentsu, now attempting to fly new skies at VMLY&R.

Having started in account management, I now provide consumer-first strategic support to my creative team and clients.

Positions

HEAD, STRATEGIC PLANNING
SHASHANK IS DEFINED BY HIS EXPOSURE TO DIVERSE EXPERIENCES WHICH SHAPES HIS ABILITY TO STEER THE COURSE IN THE OFTEN SUBJECTIVE ENVIRONMENTOF ADVERTISING.
A QUALIFIED MECHANICAL ENGINEER, HE BEGAN HIS CAREER IN STRATEGIC SOURCING AT MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA IN 1998. AFTER COMPLETING HIS PG IN MARKETING FROM MUMBAI UNIVERSITY, HE RETURNED TO MAHINDRA TO WORK IN FARM EQUIPMENT STRATEGY, UTILITY VEHICLE SALES & MARKETING AS WELL AS CORPORATE AFFAIRS.
AFTER A VARIETY OF ASSIGNMENTS AT ELDER PHARMA, TECH PACIFIC, A TEACHING STINT FOR MANAGEMENT STUDENTS AT IMS, SHASHANK SHIFTED TO ADVERTISING, WHERE HE WORKED AT MCCANN AND OGILVY GROUP’S SOHO SQUARE.
HE HAS BEEN AT TAPROOT SINCE 2017 WHERE HE HAS DEFINED, LED AND FOSTERED OUR APPROACH TO STRATEGIC PLANNING. THE ROOT ™, OUR PERSPECTIVE ON HOW ICONIC BRANDS ARE BUILT, WAS CONCEIVED AND DEVELOPED BY SHASHANK. HE HAS MADE VITAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN PROVIDING STRATEGIC DIRECTION AND SUPPORT TO BOTH CLIENTS AND CREATIVE TEAMMATES ACROSS BRANDS LIKE UBER, MYNTRA, HUL’S VASELINE, MARICO’S SET WET, ITC’S FIAMA, DANONE’S PROTINEX.
HE WAS THE BRAINS BEHIND THE #WHO’SYOUR PARLE G CAMPAIGN. HE LED THE RESEARCH FOR WHATSAPP’S INDIA BRAND CAMPAIGN (SPREAD JOY, NOT RUMOURS.), THE FIRST CAMPAIGN FROM WHATSAPP GLOBALLY. HE IS ACTIVELY CONSULTING ON EUREKA FORBES’ PORTFOLIO AND BRANDING ARCHITECTURE. WITH DANONE’S PROTINEX, HE HAS PARTNERED THE CLIENT TO REALIGN PORTFOLIO PRIORITIES AS WELL AS LED RESEARCH TO MINE INSIGHTS FOR THE ADULT NUTRITION SEGMENT. RECENTLY HE LED AND HELPED WIN THE IPL 2019 PITCH WITH LED TO THE #GAME BANAYEGA NAME CAMPAIGN, WHICH BEAT REACH AND VIEWERSHIP TAGRETS SET BY STAR SPORTS.
IN HIS PREVIOUS STINTS HE WORKED ON PARACHUTE, SAFFOLA, PEARS, STAYFREE, NEROLAC, KOTAK, RADIO MIRCHI, FRANKLIN TEMPLETON, TATA MOTOTS, BISLERI. LAUNCHING VESPA IN INDIA AND PITCHING, WINNING AND ACTIVELY HANDLING BJP’S GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN (AB KI BAAR, MODI SARKAR) WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF HIS OGILVY STINT. THE LATTER WON HIM THE GRAND EFFIE AND HE ALSO BAGGED THE FINALIST FOR PLANNER OF THE YEAR AT CAMPAIGN ASIA’S AGENCY OF THE YEAR AWARDS. 
Account Planner
Meridian Communications

Other professional activities

PHNX 2024

Awards Jury Member

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